Dust Collector #3: Sealing up the Contractor's saw for dust

I’ve been planning on doing a backplate for my old Delta 34-444 Contractor’s saw to seal it up for dust collection..I looked at a couple of things online, and the diagram from the Taunton book looked very close, I recreated the positions and angles for myself, drew it up in SketchUp – but then could not print out lifesize drawings (so gave up on that).

Next I played with cardboard, doing the radii with string & pencil, then followed it up today with hardboard. I was at the threshold of taking the motor off so I could put the back on, but I kept thinking there must be a better way.

The problem I’ve always seen with trying to enclose the whole motor is that it comes up above the table surface at the full 45 degree position. Looking at it, I realized that is because of the size of the belt – if I went with a longer belt, the motor will be lower. I played with adding more links to my Powertwist Link belt, and huzzah!So, I’m going to drop the clumsy backplate, and now just build an enclosing box for the entire belt/motor/carriage assembly.

I’m really curious if anyone else has done this (lengthened belt, enclosed motor). I can see there might be worry about motor heat, but I do plan to use it with my brand new and too clean dust collector, so I don’t expect a heat issue.

3 comments so far

I had enclosed the back of my Craftsman contractor saw with 1/8” hardboard. I had to remove the guard and the guard bracket. Used 2 pieces of hardboard and velcro to attach it to the saw body and to join the 2 pieces together. With the velcro attaching system, it wasn’t a major event to remove it when I needed angled cuts. A while back I broke 1 of the pieces and have left it open since. Put the guard back on too.

The article in FWW specifically addresses enclosing the motor – if I understand correctly enclosing the motor in this fashion FORCES cooling airflow over the motor housing (as the enclosed area is so well sealed), thereby improving the cooling of the motor! Darn clever. I have the Jet DC you bought, and I just love it. Plan to enclose the base of my Jet 10” contractor’s saw, but am trying to design an entire table saw workstation around it. Lots of good ideas to incorporate from various magazines/websites/photos on LJ. One of these days, I’ll come up with a plan and begin to keep you all informed of the progress.